NWF:Keystone XL Tar Sands Vote a Test of Climate Commitment

Vote on Hoeven amendment key test for climate and KXL debate

03-22-2013
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Miles Grant

The U.S. Senate is set to vote today on what’s known as the Hoeven amendment, a non-binding amendment that expresses support for building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline regardless of its impacts on wildlife, climate change, and clean water.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“We’re coming off America’s hottest year on record as the cleanup from climate-fueled superstorm Sandy is still ongoing, and what’s the Senate hard at work on? Earning its low approval rating by capitulating to polluting special interests with a meaningless vote on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

“If our leaders are truly committed to confronting climate change-fueled extreme weather, from superstorms and sea level rise to droughts and wildfires, they must have the strength to say no to polluter giveaways like the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. I expect President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry take threats to America’s climate, wildlife and clean water more seriously than this Congress.”

The climate crisis is the single biggest threat to wildlife this century, according to a recent National Wildlife Federation report, Wildlife in a Warming World. Get more National Wildlife Federation news at NWF.org/News.